Revelations and Realizations
by ProAmoreLaeliae
Summary: Lilly gets an upsetting e-mail from Oliver.  Liley.


**A/N: This is my first Liley story. I hope you enjoy it. All criticism is welcome.**

**Disclaimer: The fact that Lilly was dating Oliver at all is proof that I do not own Hannah Montana. No infringement is intended.  
**

**Revelations and Realizations**

Lilly was sitting on the leather sectional, her legs curled up under her laptop. Showing on the screen at the top of Lilly's inbox were two new e-mails from . Lilly clicked on the older one first and began to read.

"Dear Lilly," the e-mail read, "I have some bad news to tell you. Something I should tell you to your face, but since I'm on the other side of the world right now, I can't really do that. I thought I should send you a warning e-mail before the real thing. The next message you get from me will probably make you hate me."

Lilly's heart had started to beat wildly as she neared panic. She was afraid of what she was about to read. She clicked on the more recent message in spite of her fear.

"I'll understand if you hate me," the newer message said. "I'll understand if you think I'm a coward for telling you this way. As much as it would hurt, I'll understand if you don't even want to be friends anymore. But I can't change what's happened. So here goes. I met someone."

Lilly's jaw dropped open and her eyes bugged out. An astonished squeak escaped her throat, then she fell silent, sitting motionless, the expression of shock on her face unchanging.

About ten minutes later, Miley walked in the front door to find Lilly and her shocked expression. "Lilly, what's wrong?" Miley gasped, striding quickly over to the couch and sitting next to her best friend. "What happened?"

Lilly slowly turned her head to look at Miley. Suddenly, a dam burst somewhere inside of her and tears began streaming down her face. She began to blubber incoherently as Miley wrapped her arms around her, stroking the back of her head and rocking her gently back and forth. At last, Lilly started to calm down, though tears still ran down her face.

"What happened Lilly?" Miley whispered.

"I got an e-mail from Oliver," she said.

Miley's demeanor changed perceptibly. "What did he do?" she snapped angrily. Miley's tone didn't alarm Lilly; Lilly was used to the way Miley reacted when someone made her cry.

"He met someone," Lilly grunted bitterly.

"Met someone?" Miley said, her powerful voice in its outrage increasing the force of her presence. Lilly briefly imagined fire shooting from Miley's eyes.

"Well, technically," Lilly said, "they met before, just not under the best of circumstances."

"Who is she?" Miley demanded.

"Oh, you've met," said Lilly. "Does the name Guillermo Montoya ring a bell?"

Miley's outrage softened into surprise. "The tennis player?" she said.

"Yeah, the tennis player," Lilly said glumly. "He's leaving me for a guy!" A fresh storm of tears erupted from Lilly's eyes, and Miley again cradled Lilly to her chest, rocking her back and forth. Miley whispered to Lilly as she cried.

"At least now you know it wasn't meant to be, so you won't waste any more time on him," Miley said. "He was lying to himself and to you before, and now he's not. Now you're free to look for the person that you're truly meant to be with. And you will find that person. You're an amazing person, Lilly. There's never going to be a shortage of people who would saw off their right arms just to have a chance to treat you like a princess. You deserve the best, not someone who's just dating you to hide from himself."

By now, Miley's shirt was damp with Lilly's tears, and the dampness seemed to penetrate her skin to dampen her own heart as she felt some of the pain her best friend was feeling. Over the years of their friendship, Miley and Lilly had developed an ever-increasing empathy with each other. Now, having lived together for the better part of a year, the girls were so in tune with each other's emotions that when they were together, they had no choice but to feel what the other was feeling.

"Lilly, I know it hurts," Miley said. "I can feel it through you. But you're an amazing, strong, happy person and I know you'll bounce back from this stronger than ever."

Lilly pulled back from Miley to look her in the eyes. "How could he do this to me, Miley?" she said weakly.

"We don't choose who we love, Lil," Miley whispered. "I mean, how many times did I fall for Jake Ryan, even though he was always still the same jerk? If Oliver is in love with Guillermo Montoya instead of you, there's nothing he can do about that. At least he told you, instead of letting you believe that you were still together."

"I guess you're right," Lilly said, her face dropping to look at her thumbs, which she twiddled aimlessly. Miley put her hand under Lilly's chin and lifted her face back up so they were eye to eye again.

"I am right," Miley said. "He didn't leave you because of you, he left you because of him. Don't let this make you think you're any less loveable or desirable." Miley slid her hand up from Lilly's chin, cupping her cheek, massaging Lilly's cheekbones gently with her thumb. "Besides, you've still got me," she said, "and I'll never leave your side."

Lilly looked down again. "Miley, you'll have to leave me eventually. You're eventually going to find someone that makes you happy. It might not be Jake Ryan, but you'll find someone, and you'll have a life with them, and then I'll be all alone."

Miley pushed Lilly's face back up to look her in the eye again. "No, Lilly. I'm not going anywhere. One thing I've learned over the last five years is that the only times I'm unhappy are when you're not around. I don't always understand my feelings for you, Lil, but I do know that I need to be around you as much as I can. And I don't see any guy changing that."

Lilly suddenly became aware that Miley's face had been inching closer to her own as Miley spoke. "Miley," she whispered.

Miley took Lilly's whisper as an invitation, leaning in and pressing her lips against Lilly's. A high, fluttery moan from the back of Lilly's throat assured Miley that she hadn't made a huge mistake. It wasn't long before Lilly began to kiss back.

"I love you, Lilly," Miley gasped, pulling back from Lilly's lips to speak.

"I love you, too," Lilly said. "And I know just what I'm going to write back to Oliver."

Miley watched over Lilly's shoulder as she typed Oliver's e-mail address on her laptop's keyboard.

"Dear Oliver," Lilly's message read, "That's okay. I should have left you for Miley a long time ago. Now I can! TTYL, Lilly."

"See what I meant about bouncing back?" Miley said. Lilly smiled.

"You're the best friend, ever, Miley," Lilly said.

"And I intend to be the best girlfriend ever, if you'll let me," Miley said, smiling back.

"I'd like that," said Lilly, her smile widening.

The girls' lips met again, and they did not part for quite some time.


End file.
